Inaugural Week, Day 7 – Ginger and Scotch Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream (no ice cream machine needed but I did use an electric whisk) with ginger and Scotch whisky.

Ginger and Scotch Ice Cream

Today is also the 7th and final day of gingerandscotch.com inaugural week. I hope you have enjoyed all the ginger and whisky-spiked recipes – I certainly had a blast creating, cooking, photographing, and eating them all. And so have Scotch and Wee Scotch. It’s a shame Wee Scotch wasn’t able to drink the chilli martini, having spilled all of it on himself (and also being quite underaged). He’s klutz just like his mother – makes me proud every day.

For those with a sweet tooth, you will be happy to know that the final recipe for inaugural week is Ginger and Scotch Ice Cream. I had never made ice cream before so I decided to challenge myself by attempting home-made ice cream without a machine.

Left Column: Wee Scotch trying to get the ice cream on to his spoon; Right Column: drinking the melted ice cream and taking a big bite

I don’t eat ice cream very often but around March or April, when the weather starts heating up in Dubai (having acclimated to the Dubai heat, 21 C/70 F is just too cold for me to sit outdoors during the months of Dec-Feb), it’s lovely to sit outside, people watch, and enjoy a few scoops from one of the ice cream parlors that have finally opened up in my neighborhood. Downstairs from my apartment is an area called “The Walk” which is sort of like South Beach, Miami (it’s along the beach, is lined with retail shops and restaurants, and it has lots of cruisers in their silly loud sports cars, SUVs, plus the occasional hummer limo) but much more family oriented and without the clubs and alcohol as only the hotels have licenses to serve liquor.

I based this ice cream on the recipe and method from the hairpin – this website has useful photos that illustrate the step-by-step process. It took some time to make my ice cream (a day and a half) but it wasn’t difficult technique-wise – just some simmering, stirring, and a bit of handheld electric mixer action. I was extremely happy with the results – I really can’t believe that I made ice cream by myself and succeeded! It was sweet, smooth, creamy, and the ginger flavor wasn’t too strong and neither was the whisky – you can of course add more of either ingredient to suit your taste buds.

I always knew ice cream was bad for the waist-line and now I know why: egg yolks, full-fat milk, heavy cream – oy vey! Everything in moderation, right? That and running 5 miles afterwards to burn off the calories!

I served the ginger and scotch ice cream with (what else?) ginger and scotch cookies. I got the idea for the cookies from Sally at My Custard Pie. Of course for my version I had to throw in some Scotch whisky :).

Homemade ice cream (no ice cream machine needed but I did use an electric whisk) with ginger and Scotch whisky.

Author: ginger and scotch

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: Makes 1 quart

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk

¾ cup sugar

¼ to ½ cup grated fresh ginger (depending on your preference)

5 egg yolks

2 cups heavy cream (keep chilled in fridge)

¼ cup Scotch whisky

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence

crystallized ginger

Instructions

In a saucepan, pour in the milk, sugar, and grated ginger and heat over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sugar has completely dissolved. Do not let the mixture come to a boil. Cover, turn off the heat and let it sit for one hour, allowing the ginger to infuse into the liquid.

After one hour, strain the ginger-milk mixture through a fine sieve to remove the bits of ginger and push down on the solids with a spoon to extract all the liquid from the ginger. Return the liquid to the saucepan and warm over a low heat. Whisk the egg yolks briefly and add in a bit of the warmed milk mixture. This will help temper the yolk and prevent it from poaching. Pour the egg yolks into the pan containing the milk. You now have custard!

Cook the custard over low heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon or spatula, until it has thickened enough to coat the spoon or spatula. It took about 10 minutes for my custard to thicken.

Take the heavy cream out of the fridge and pour it into a freezer-safe plastic or metal container. Add the custard, vanilla extract/essence, and the Scotch whisky and stir. Place the container in the fridge for an hour or preferably overnight to completely chill.

Transfer the custard mixture from the fridge to the freezer. After 45 minutes, check on the custard – it should have started to freeze so give it a good stir with a spoon, spatula or handheld mixer. I used an electric handheld mixer with the whisk attachment. Repeat every 45 minutes for the next 3 to 4 hours. Place the home-made ice cream into a covered container and allow it to completely freeze.

After all that hard work – it’s time to eat your home-made Ginger and Scotch Ice Cream! Top with crystallized ginger if you have any.

Notes

Makes 1 quart of ice cream. I poured my finished Ginger and Scotch ice cream into an old ice cream container that I had saved and cleaned.

Sandy, I really enjoyed your delicious ice cream today. Thanks Ruth, for sharing. 😉 Have to say that the ginger was surprisingly good, it is like no other flavor I have tried. My son is pleased to hear that we can make yummy ice cream without purchasing an ice cream machine. WISH US LUCK!

Very impressed with how good the ice cream looks especially without an ice cream maker….very talented. Those cookies look delicious too……wonder if wee Scotch will share them with his friends or if they're just too yummy. Loving Ginger and Scotch inaugural week, everything looks so good and you've inspired me to copy some and try them out on the family.

hahaha, Wee Scotch totally makes these posts come alive! Love the ginger cookie and ice cream combo, totally my kind of comfort food. This recipe with eggs is almost like gelato, bet it was rich and super creamy, exactly the kind of thing you deserve on mother's day 🙂inafryingpan recently posted…I’ve been spoilt rotten by Mom’s Hyderabadi Biryani

Wow Sandy….that ice cream looks pro- totally smooth and creamy. And you've probably got an extra bicep or two from all that stirring. Love the pictures of wee Scotch this whole week- he's such a character!Sukaina recently posted…Rice Pudding with Saffron and Cardamom